Imaging system

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a method comprising: translating a detector module such that a point of the detector module moves along a curve through movement rounds (i), i=1, . . . , M, with M being a positive integer, wherein the curve is smooth; and in the movement round (i), i=1, . . . , M, capturing partial images (i, j) of a scene using the detector module, j=1, . . . , Hi, when the point is at position Pi,j on the curve, with Hi being an integer greater than 1.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 translating a detector module such that a point of the detector module moves along a curve through movement rounds (i), i=1, . . . , M, with M being a positive integer, wherein the curve is smooth; and 
 in the movement round (i), i=1, . . . , M, capturing partial images (i, j) of a scene using the detector module, j=1, . . . , H i , when the point is at position P i,j  on the curve, with H i  being an integer greater than 1. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curve is a circle. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the curve comprises a straight line segment, and 
 wherein the positions P i,j  are on the straight line segment. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein M≥2. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the detector module comprises N spatially discontinuous active areas, N being a positive integer greater than 1. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein velocity of the point is a continuous function of time through the movement rounds (i), i=1, . . . , M. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein capturing partial image (i, j) comprises gathering charge carriers generated in detector module in response to incident radiation when the point is at position P i,j  in the movement round (i). 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the detector module comprises N spatially discontinuous active areas arranged in K rows and L columns, with K, L, and N being positive integers, and 
 wherein the K rows define a row direction and the L columns define a column direction. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 ,
 wherein a size in the row direction of one of the N spatially discontinuous active areas is greater than a distance between two neighboring active areas of the N spatially discontinuous active areas in a row of the K rows, and 
 wherein a size in the column direction of one of the N spatially discontinuous active areas is greater than a distance between two neighboring active areas of the N spatially discontinuous active areas in a column of the L columns. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising operating a shield system such that the shield system blocks radiation not targeting the N spatially discontinuous active areas while the point is at the positions P i,j , i=1, M and j=1, . . . , H i . 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 ,
 wherein the shield system comprises (A) row shield bars extending in the row direction, and (B) column shield bars extending in the column direction, 
 wherein operating the shield system comprises translating the row shield bars along the column direction, translating the column shield bars along the row direction, or both. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, for the movement round (i), forming an image (i) of an entirety of the scene by stitching the partial images (i, j), j=1, . . . , H i . 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curve is closed. 
     
     
       14. An imaging system, comprising a detector module,
 wherein the imaging system is configured to translate the detector module such that a point of the detector module moves along a curve through movement rounds (i), i=1, . . . , M, with M being a positive integer, 
 wherein the curve is smooth, and 
 wherein in the movement round (i), the detector module is configured to capture partial images (i, j) of a scene when the point is at positions P i,j  on the curve, with H i  being an integer greater than 1. 
 
     
     
       15. The imaging system of  claim 14 , wherein the curve is a circle. 
     
     
       16. The imaging system of  claim 14 ,
 wherein the curve comprises a straight line segment, and 
 wherein the H i  positions are on the straight line segment. 
 
     
     
       17. The imaging system of  claim 14 , wherein M  2 . 
     
     
       18. The imaging system of  claim 14 , wherein the detector module comprises N spatially discontinuous active areas, N being a positive integer greater than 1. 
     
     
       19. The imaging system of  claim 14 , wherein velocity of the point is a continuous function of time through the movement rounds (i), i=1, . . . , M. 
     
     
       20. The imaging system of  claim 14 ,
 wherein, the detector module is configured to capture partial image (i, j) by gathering charge carriers generated in the detector module in response to incident radiation when the point is at position P i,j . 
 
     
     
       21. The imaging system of  claim 14 ,
 wherein the detector module comprises N spatially discontinuous active areas arranged in K rows and L columns, with K, L, and N being positive integers, and 
 wherein the K rows define a row direction and the L columns define a column direction. 
 
     
     
       22. The imaging system of  claim 21 ,
 wherein a size in the row direction of one of the N spatially discontinuous active areas is greater than a distance between two neighboring active areas of the N spatially discontinuous active areas in a row of the K rows, and 
 wherein a size in the column direction of one of the N spatially discontinuous active areas is greater than a distance between two neighboring active areas of the N spatially discontinuous active areas in a column of the L columns. 
 
     
     
       23. The imaging system of  claim 21 , further comprising a shield system configured to block radiation not targeting the N spatially discontinuous active areas while the point is at the positions P i,j , i=1, . . . , M and j=1, . . . , H i . 
     
     
       24. The imaging system of  claim 23 ,
 wherein the shield system comprises (A) row shield bars extending in the row direction, and (B) column shield bars extending in the column direction, 
 wherein the shield system is configured to translate the row shield bars along the column direction, translate the column shield bars along the row direction, or both. 
 
     
     
       25. The imaging system of  claim 14 , further comprising a processor configured to, for the movement round (i), form an image (i) of an entirety of the scene by stitching the partial images (i, j), j=1, . . . , H i . 
     
     
       26. The imaging system of  claim 14 , wherein the curve is closed.